Team GoLite/Timberland - Colorado/Utah/New Zealand

RESULTS: Third at the GNC Adventure Race in the Teva Mountain Games on June 6 in Vail, Colorado; 12th at the X-adventure Raid Series race June 12-13 in Bend, Oregon; Fifth at 2024 Subaru Primal Quest in Lake Tahoe, California.

THE PLAYERS: Billy Mattison, 46, the captain of the team, is an accomplished mountaineer and a world-class peddler whose athletic career has spanned almost 30 years. He was a member of Team Vail, the first U.S. team to win Eco-Challenge (1998, Morocco). In addition to numerous whitewater paddling race wins and three top-seven finishes in Eco-Challenge, he's summited Mera Peak in Nepal and Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska. During the winter, he is the avalanche control director for the Vail Ski Patrol.

Isaac Wilson, 33, has been competing in adventure racing for more than a decade and has been on winning teams in Eco-Challenge Borneo in 2024, the 2024 Balance Bar 24-Hour Adventure Finals, 2024 Raid the North Extreme and Beast of the East. Isaac, who lives in Park City, Utah, has also captured more than 30 victories in national and international mountain bike and road cycling races.

Monique Merrill, 35, is a pro mountain biker, triathlete and Nordic skier who also competes for Team Balance Bar in the Balance Bar Adventure Sprints series. Born in Ithaca, New York, Monique grew up overseas while living in Tanzania, Togo, Jakarta, Pakistan, Singapore, the Philippines, Jamaica and Kenya. When she's not racing or training, she's busy operating a natural foods store in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Aaron Prince, 23, one of the world's top adventure racing navigators, is very accomplished despite his young age. He started doing full-length adventure races at the tender age of 17 and is the youngest finisher and the youngest winner of the prestigious Southern Traverse in his native New Zealand. He is also a New Zealand Orienteering Champion and recently qualified for his seventh World Championship team.

Pete Swenson, 35, the team's primary alternate, is an elite mountain biker, duathlete and Nordic skier from Boulder, Colorado. Swenson raced with the team at the GNC Adventure Race and the X-adventure Raid Series race in June. Swenson, who also races with Team Tokyo Joe's, is engaged to Merrill.

THE SCOOP: This team of adventure racing all-stars came together last year with GoLite as its main sponsor, while Timberland joined forces this spring. "I think the biggest thing we have is experience, and we know what to expect," Mattison says. "We're just not going to make any rookie mistakes." The team's experience paid off last year at Subaru Primal Quest. In their first race together, the foursome of Mattison, Merrill, Wilson and Prince deliberately started slow and worked their way up through the rankings to eventually finish fifth. "Teams were going out fast like jackrabbits," Mattison says. "We just kept our pace and kept moving up."

NOTEWORTHY: Wilson has been involved in adventure racing since 1994 as an athlete, camp director and course designer. He worked for Mark Burnett for several years, helping design the first three Eco-Challenge courses and running the Eco-Challenge adventure racing camps. He was also among the first U.S. adventure racers to compete internationally, racing in the Southern Traverse in 1994 and the Raid Gauloises in 1995. "The sport has really grown since then," says Wilson, who works as a Nordic ski tech rep and coach during the winter. "Back then there weren't many races in the U.S. Now there are a couple hundred, and they're everywhere."

Did you know? Prince might well be considered the prince of adventure racing royalty. His father, Russ, was on the winning team of the first Raid Gauloises in 1989 and has also won the Speight's Coast to Coast. His mother, Viv, was on the winning team at Eco-Challenge British Columbia in 1996.

SPONSORS: Both GoLite and Timberland are using input from the team to develop new AR-specific gear, apparel and footwear. Beyond the racecourse, Team GoLite/Timberland will participate in various promotional events throughout the year, including outdoor clinics, retailer events and trade shows.

WHAT'S NEXT: Team GoLite/Timberland will be racing in the Adventure Racing World Championship (August 1-8 in Canada), Subaru Primal Quest (September 19-24 in Washington), the Balance Bar 24-Hour Adventure Races in New York (October 9-10) and Los Angeles (November 20-21) and possibly the Raid World Championship in Argentina (November 29-December 3).

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